


The Memory of You

by Akiko_Natsuko



Series: McHanzo [27]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Denial, Established Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Love, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-17 05:43:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16510436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: When he came back to himself, it was to find tears streaming down his cheeks, his hand lying outstretched on the empty side of the bed. “…come back.”





	The Memory of You

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this fantastic art by Vimeddiee: http://vimeddiee.tumblr.com/post/167341807071/this-is-what-happens-when-you-make-todays

_They were stood under the warm spray of the shower, the tiny cubicle was barely built to hold one person let alone two, but they had learned to make it work. They needed the closeness right now, to be pressed against one another, and to lose themselves in the feel of flesh on flesh, fingers roaming constantly, not heated, but searching. Needing to see for themselves that the other was uninjured beyond the scrapes and bruises they already knew about, not caring that Angela would never have cleared them to leave the post-mission briefing if that wasn’t the case. Hanzo shivering as McCree’s fingers, strong enough to bend metal when he wanted, ghosted over a particularly dark bruise on his side, pressing closer to his partner, clinging to him and burying his face against him as he mumbled his name. “Jesse…”_

_“Hmm?” He could feel the sound vibrating through McCree’s chest and almost smiled, fingers lightly stroking the skin beneath him. McCree was wonderfully warm and solid; his heart beat strong beneath Hanzo’s ear when he tilted his head to listen. Alive._

_“You’re really here.”_

_“I think that should be my line,” McCree murmured and this time Hanzo felt him tremble, already pulling back to peer up at his partner, when hands, one flesh and one metal moved to cup his face, tilting it upwards, fingers gentle against his cheek. “Gods Hanzo.” There was a waver in his voice now, but his lips were firm as he pulled Hanzo into a gentle kiss, lingering, pressing butterfly kisses across his face before reluctantly pulling back, although his grip remained, as though he was frightened to let go even for a single second. “When we lost contact with you I feared the worst.”_

_“I know.” Hanzo swallowed, remembering the panic that had gripped him when his attempts to communicate with the team had gone unanswered after a wayward grenade had sent him tumbling from his perch, leaving him dazed and cut off from the rest of the team. “As did I.” McCree’s expression softened, no doubt catching the fear behind those words, the lingering doubt that he might one day be left behind. That he might be abandoned to the solitude that had been his life for so long._

_Warm lips ghosted over his, McCree playfully nudging his nose, the contact helping to ease him back into the present, before kissing him firmly. “You’re safe.” Your home, was what he really meant and for the first time since they had left the base two days before, Hanzo felt his lips quirking up into a proper smile, leaning up to kiss McCree, finally loosening his death grip, but still not moving away as he replied quietly._

_“I know.” Because you’re here, and because I’m with you…_

    The soothing sensation of hot water hitting his skin slowly faded away, and Hanzo wrinkled his nose, brow furrowing as he realised that the comforting warm body that he had been pressed against only seconds before was no longer there. He wasn’t ready to open his eyes just yet, so he reached out blindly, fingers searching for Jesse, expecting his partner’s fingers to meet him halfway as they always did. It had startled him at first. No, it had terrified him that there was someone who had paid enough attention to him that he could accurately anticipate his moves, and he remembered how he had pulled back the first time it had happened, hiding away, trying to build his walls up once more before it was too late, and he got hurt.

Jesse hadn’t let him.

   The irritating, brash…wonderful man had persisted where most people would have given up, filling Hanzo’s space, until at some point home had become McCree curled around him late at night, the surprisingly soothing scent of cigars and spice, and warm hands reaching for his.

   He frowned as his searching fingers came up empty, something that never happened unless they were on separate missions or…something tugged at the edge of his thoughts, a darkness that he wasn’t ready to face just yet, and he recoiled from it, burying his face in the pillow. _Don’t think about it_ , he was clutching the pillow now, fighting the pull of consciousness and the increasing urge to open his eyes and look for his partner. _Don’t_ …

 _“Hey there, sleepyhead.”_ His breath caught as the warm voice washed over him, wrapping around him like a hug and he couldn’t stop his eyes from flying open.

“Jesse…?” His partner was laid next to him, lying on his front and watching him with soft eyes and the same sappy smile that Hanzo had scolded him for numerous times. Today it ignited an ache in his chest that he didn’t want to understand, and he was about to look away, suddenly overwhelmed by the look in Jesse’s eyes, but before he could move, Jesse had.

 _“Wasn’t gonna let you wake up alone darlin’,”_ there was a note of sadness beneath the words, and Hanzo trembled, the feel of fingers against his cheek almost too gentle, too fleeting and he squeezed his eyes shut as lips brushed against his eyelids. _“Gotta kiss those eyes…”_ It was something Jesse had started to do in play one day, and when Hanzo had questioned his sudden obsession with his eyes, Jesse had turned crimson, flushing brighter than he had the day that Ana had caught them in questionable circumstances and it had taken him a while to coax the answer out of him. _It was your eyes I fell for first,_ Jesse had muttered eventually, and it had been Hanzo’s turn to blush, hiding against him and calling him an ‘idiot’ in the soft tone that they both knew really meant ‘ _I love you’._

“Jesse…” Hanzo whispered, the ache in his chest becoming a burning pain and desperately he reached out, needing to feel his partner’s warmth, to touch the smile that was turning melancholy under his gaze. Then just as he should have brushed warm skin, Jesse’s image seemed to waver, the smile fading completely as his fingers closed on thin air, his voice cracking as he pleaded. “Wait…don’t go.” The words stirred something, and his breath caught as for a moment all he could see was blood and smoke, warm skin turning cool beneath his frantic touch…an empty shower, numbness setting in as he washed the red away…hands trembling as Winston handed him the folded Serape, and battered cowboy hat.

   When he came back to himself, it was to find tears streaming down his cheeks, his hand lying outstretched on the empty side of the bed. “…come back.”


End file.
